Volunteers showed up in droves to help search for a missing 24-year-old Eden Prairie woman on Friday a day after her former boyfriend shot himself in the head before police could interview him about the disappearance.

“I think we’ve had about 200 people,” said Steve Matula, who helped coordinate search efforts for his missing sister, Mandy Marie Matula. “Friends, family, strangers. There were people whose faces I didn’t recognize.”

Family and friends planned to continue the search for Matula on Saturday, May 4. They have set up a Facebook page, Finding Mandy Matula, to help coordinate search efforts.

A person who answered the phone at the Matula’s Eden Prairie home Saturday morning said there were no new updates to report.

Matula was last seen by her family about 11 p.m. Wednesday, May 1. She was reported missing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday when she didn’t show up for work, police said.

She was last thought to be with her ex-boyfriend, David Marshall Roe, 24, of Victoria, about 1:30 a.m. Thursday at Miller Park in Eden Prairie.

Steve Matula and family friend Mark Vandenberghe used Miller Park as ground zero for coordinating the search Friday evening. Volunteers showed up dressed for the cold temperatures, and some wore hunting waders to better search local swamps and lakes.

Police searched Miller Park and nearby Mitchell Lake and Round Lake Park on Thursday but said Friday they were not immediately asking for the public’s help with additional searches.

But that didn’t stop family members from pulling together their own effort.

Steve Matula said he was asking people to check anywhere and everywhere, with a focus on area parks, for clues.

“We’re looking for anything,” he said.

Roe was identified as a person of interest not long after Mandy Matula was reported missing. He agreed to come to Eden Prairie police headquarters to speak with investigators Thursday, and police had several phone conversations with him before his arrival, according to Lt. Bill Wyffels.

But Roe disclosed no information about Matula’s whereabouts, Wyffels said. Within minutes of arriving at the Eden Prairie City Center around 1:30 p.m., Roe shot himself in the head with a handgun as he sat in his car and police officers looked on.

He was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Police were unable to provide an update on his status Friday. Wyffels said only that Roe was unable to provide any information.

Just before shooting himself, Roe placed a piece of paper on the dash of the 2013 black Ford Escape he was driving, according to police. There was writing on it, but the note’s contents were not made public.

Roe and Matula had a romantic relationship in the past and were no longer dating, but were on speaking terms, Wyffels said. It is believed the pair were in Miller Park in the early hours of Thursday, based on reports from family.

In 2007, Roe was charged in Hennepin County with misdemeanor DWI, careless driving, underage consumption, underage drinking and driving, and obstructing the legal process, according to state criminal records.

Matula has worked seasonally with Eden Prairie’s Park Maintenance Division since 2007, according to the city.

Matula and Roe graduated from Eden Prairie High School in 2007. The Duluth News Tribune reported that Matula played softball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2008 to 2011.

Roe was enrolled at St. Cloud State University, according to a St. Cloud Times report.

Matula and Roe were believed to have been traveling in the black Ford Escape with Minnesota license plate number 802-KNA on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The vehicle is in the possession of authorities, but anyone with information about Matula’s whereabouts or the pair’s activities in the vehicle late Wednesday or early Thursday is asked to call police at 952-949-6200.

Matula’s disappearance is the third missing woman case in the metro area in recent months. In each case, a significant other has been named a suspect or person of interest.

Danielle Jelinek, 28, of Oakdale was reported missing on Dec. 9, after reportedly spending the night at the Chisago County home of a man with whom she had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship. She has not yet been found. The man is jailed on unrelated drug charges.

Kira Steger Trevino, 30, of St. Paul was last heard from on the evening of Feb. 21. She has not been found. Her husband remains jailed after being charged with murder based on blood evidence police found in their home.

Authorities as well as friends and family have conducted extensive searches for both women.

This report includes information from the Associated Press. Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at 651-228-5162. Follow her on Twitter @LizMohr.

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